Tuesday, November 22, 2005

A Fishy Story

We woke up late Saturday, Nov. 12th. It was
one of those lazy, dazy, days of autumn. Not having a definite birding
destination planned, we agreed to go to Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve which
is only about 25 miles away and always a sure place to see birds. Besides there
had been sightings of a Blackburnian Warbler in its vicinity. That, of course, was incentive enough to visit the place.

We were just getting off the car when we saw the
squadron-like formation of American White Pelicans slowly descending in the
distance. We decided to carry both cameras; Cynthia handling the smaller and
lighter 300mm lens while I lugged the humongous 500mm. When we reached the
first lakeside lookout point, we witnessed the cooperative behavior of the White
Pelicans. Several birds would herd the fish with a lot of wing beating and
water splashing like a bunch of white clad cowboys. As soon as they have their
quarry trapped between them, then the feeding frenzy begins. They were doing
this at less than twenty feet away from the curious onlookers – birders,
photographers (and a combination thereof), families with young kids, artists
(there were a group of painters nearby who left their masterpieces just to
witness the pelican’s behavior). Adding to this was an Osprey who did its own
way of catching fish…flying about 50 feet above the waters and then suddenly
swooping down and plunging into the lake, then rising up with an explosion of
water oftentimes with a fish in its talons. All these commotion didn’t appear to
bother the grebes and cormorants who just continued on with their respective
businesses.

After a while we left to continue our search for the
warbler. We did not have high expectations of seeing this bird because the
directions given were not clear enough and a search party the day before did not
find it either. Meandering along the trailway, we were surprised at the volume
of people that we encountered. This must be “Take-your-child-birding” day. We
met wave upon wave of adults guiding small children with tiny binoculars
hanging from their cute little necks.

We eventually came into a place where there were no
children (perhaps it was because the day was starting to heat up). We saw the
usual suspects – birds that we see often enough. Cynthia practiced on her
photographic style while I did some half-hearted shots. It was then that I
witnessed something white on top of a leafless tree. It gleamed as the
mid-morning sun shone upon its white feathers. I immediately looked at it
through my binoculars and confirmed what I had hoped I would see – a
White-tailed Kite! I pointed out the bird to Cynthia who wasted no time taking
its picture. I, on the other hand, and with the stealth of a hungry tiger,
inched closer while clicking away with my camera at my magnificent prey.

At about 50 feet away, the red eyes of the white raptor
caught the movement of this strange object crouching in the tall grass and
holding what looked like a big coffee can, and decided to fly away to an area
devoid of weird creeping, hat-wearing creatures.

On the way back, although a bit anti-climactic, I got
some good pictures of a friendly Western Kingbird.

The Pelicans were still
having a piscine party, the Osprey was still plunging into the water to catch
its meal. Hmm, it is almost noon…fish seemed like a good idea for lunch.